Austintown Fitch juniors Kayley Owen, left, and Haley Tarr visit with Pet Partners of Greater Youngstown service dog Elvis, a rescue golden retriever from Istanbul, Turkey, Wednesday afternoon at Austintown Fitch High School.

AUSTINTOWN — Service golden retriever Elvis was all smiles and tail wags Wednesday as students from Austintown Fitch High School crouched in the gym to pet him.

Elvis was one of about a dozen dogs from Pet Partners of Greater Youngstown Area, visiting the school as part of a service project by seniors Logan Franczkowski and Jenna Chmelik.

“There have been therapy dogs [here] in the past, and we wanted to carry on the tradition,” Franczowski said.

Chmelik said the dogs help students alleviate stress of finals week and Christmas.

Additionally, students were asked for a small donation, which will be returned to Pet Partners to help support the work the group does with its roughly 25 therapy dogs.

Wednesday’s event raised around $300 for the organization, which visits hospitals, nursing facilities, rehab centers, schools and libraries promoting the human-animal bond.

Elvis’ owner, Peggy Sheehan of New Wilmington, Pa., said the golden retriever does a lot of work with kids — going to South Range Local school district and libraries so children can practice reading to him. A rescue from Istanbul, Turkey, Elvis has lived with Sheehan for four years.

“It takes your mind off things,” Sheehan said of therapy dogs. The kids “just forget if they have a test next period and just relax.”

“People have been here all day,” Franczkowski said. “Some teachers even brought their whole class down.”

Senior Zoey Bailey said she visited the dogs three times Wednesday, including once with her entire organic chemistry class.

“I really enjoy seeing the dogs. It makes my day much better,” Bailey said.

Seniors at Fitch each perform a service project or volunteer as part of their English class — encouraging the students to give back to the community, said Franczkowski.